Multi Purpose Compost Full Of Plastic

[Mamsoth]

I haven't bought Multi Purpose Compost for a few years but I recently bought a few bags of Levingtons MPC. It was absolutely chock full of bits of plastic. There was about a crisp packets worth distributed throughout 40l of compost, and thats just what I managed to pull out. Is this just the way things are now or was I particularly unlucky? Does anybody have a trusted brand that they'd feel happy recommending? One that isn't chock full of plastic.

[ameno]

You were probably just unlucky, but personally I would recommend not buying any compost which uses council green waste as an ingredient. Possibility of bits of plastic in the compost is actually the least of your problems. The bigger issues are that there is a risk of weedkiller contamination (as some people will put grass clippings treated with lawn weedkiller in green waste bins, even though you're not meant to), and the fact that green waste is inherently very variable, which means both the texture and the nutrient levels of the resulting compost can be very variable.

See my post in this topic for a list of this year's Which Best Buys:
https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...become-rubbish

[burnie]

With companies looking to reduce or replace Peat in compost, sadly council waste seems to be in pretty much all of the compost you buy, I am looking at going back to making my own like my dad did in the 1960's. I intend to try making leaf mould this year along with more compost of my own for next year, I'm also thinking of making a soil seed bed under cover to do away with using plastic seed trays as well.

[ameno]

With companies looking to reduce or replace Peat in compost, sadly council waste seems to be in pretty much all of the compost you buy, I am looking at going back to making my own like my dad did in the 1960's. I intend to try making leaf mould this year along with more compost of my own for next year, I'm also thinking of making a soil seed bed under cover to do away with using plastic seed trays as well.

Most of the composts listed in the link don't use green waste.
I can give you a full list of ones which don't (well, out of those Which tested, anyway) if you like.

There are perfectly good alternatives to peat besides green waste (coir, composted bark, and expanded wood fibre being the main three), but they are all more expensive than green waste, sadly.

[Mamsoth]

Thanks for the help everyone. I decided to get a few bags of "Happy" brand MPC. Hopefully it'll be better than levingtons but probably will be more or less the same.

Ameno- I would certainly appreciate a list of non green waste composts.

Cheers

[burnie]

I see it has been announced the Government are to ban Peat composts from 2024